DENVER — Gabriel Landeskog doesn’t need any extra incentive. Being in the Western Conference Final is more than enough for the Colorado Avalanche captain.If he did, though, memories of the second-round loss to Vegas in 2021 would be a powerful motivator. The Avalanche led that series 2-0 — and were up in the third period of Game 3 — before losing four straight. It stung then. But that breakdown fueled the Avalanche, too, as they captured the Stanley Cup title the following season. And then the Golden Knights won the Cup the season after that.“Obviously, it’s the same teams but a lot of turnover,” Avalanche forward Nazem Kadri said ahead of a series that gets under way Wednesday night in Denver. “Obviously, we’re hoping for a different outcome this time.”Some familiar names remain from the ’21 series that matched the speedy Avalanche against the physical Golden Knights — an apt description of this upcoming series, too. For Colorado, the lineup back then included Landeskog, Kadri, Cale Makar, Valeri Nichushkin, Devon Toews and Nathan MacKinnon, with coach Jared Bednar on the bench.For Vegas, there were such players as captain Mark Stone, William Karlsson, Brayden McNabb, Keegan Kolesar, Shea Theodore and Reilly Smith. Avalanche nemesis Pete DeBoer was coaching then for Vegas, now it’s John Tortorella.Nicolas Roy has switched sides, with Vegas then and Colorado now. Same, in reverse, for Vegas forward Brandon Saad.“We feel like we have swagger, believe in each other,” Vegas defenseman Noah Hanifin said. “It should be a fun test.”The Golden Knights have caught fire since Tortorella took over when Bruce Cassidy was let go. The team went 7-0-1 down the stretch — including a 3-2 overtime win over Colorado on April 11 — and beat playoff upstarts Utah and Anaheim to advance.Much like they did with Vegas after the 2021 series, the Avalanche are hoping to parlay the sting of a playoff loss to Mikko Rantanen and the Dallas Stars last season into a positive. “The buy-in from our guys in both 2022 and this year, it’s at a different level,” said Bednar, whose Presidents’ Trophy-winning Avalanche are 8-1 so far in the postseason. “Because they know what the stakes are.”The Avalanche have been instilled as a plus-135 to capture the Cup, while the Golden Knights are plus-575.“It doesn’t matter in this room,” McNabb said of being an underdog. “They’re a good team. We know that. We respect them.”The …
